Duraclean Journal of Marketing, Management and Technical Topics

Lead Safety for Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Training






As mentioned in this Online Journal starting in August, 2009 RRP (lead-based paint training) and certification should be completed by April 22, 2010. Dave Horwath and Bill Ondratschek just went through the training and became “certified renovators.” Duraclean Central will be applying to make its company owned franchise certified as well. Duraclean wants to make sure that if you haven’t attended and been certified at one of these training sessions that you are aware of the following:

• Anyone who is not certified, works on a structure where they disturb lead-based paint (in our case restorers and remediators) and gets cited for it can receive a fine of $32,500 for each violation from the EPA.
• The EPA will be looking for “whistle blowers” to turn in non-certified firms. The benefits? The whistle blowers will get a percentage of the fine (and can also help to put their competition out of business).
• By attending and completing the RRP course the attendees will become “certified renovators.” This will allow their firms to be certified after the proper paperwork and $300.00 application fee is submitted. The certified renovator, in turn, can train the employees in his/her firm to perform the necessary lead containment and removal procedures.
• Certified firms will be posted on EPA's website.
• HOWEVER, the certified renovator CANNOT certify the other employees in his firm. Why is this so important? Because the certified renovator must be present on the job site when posting signs, containing and cleaning work areas and implementing the cleaning verification procedure. What it means is that if you have multiple jobs running at the same time, if you only have one certified renovator it can be an issue. You should seriously consider having more than one employee attend and get certified at one of the courses or if you had planned to attend by yourself to have another employee go with you.
• IF YOU DO ANY JOBS THAT ARE “HUD” RELATED, ALL WORKERS ON SITE MUST BE "CERTIFIED RENOVATORS"!!!!!
  

The extent of lead-based paint that’s out there may be much more than you ever thought. From a study released in October 2008:

• 86% of houses built before 1940 have lead paint.
• 66% of houses built between 1940-1959 have lead paint.
• 25% of houses built between 1960-1978 have lead paint.
• 35% OF ALL HOUSING HAS LEAD PAINT!

When you apply to become a certified firm part of the application form you send in says that your subs will be certified as well. Even though you are certified you CANNOT train the subs' employees to perform the lead paint related tasks. You CANNOT train anyone not on your payroll. Your subs will have to get certified on their own. Ask yourself this: are they aware of this certification?

What this comes down to us that that getting certified is not an option if you want to stay in the restoration and remediation business. The April 22, 2010 date to become a certified firm is already too late to attain since after you become certified EPA has a typical 90 day approval period. Therefore, if you are in restoration and remediation you need to go to one of these courses ASAP!

The fact that you do become certified and have applied to have your firm certified will likely be good enough for the time being but the longer you delay it can become an issue. You can attend a local course or attend one of the courses that Duraclean is sponsoring here at Duraclean Central ($175.00 per attendee).

Right now we are hosting an RRP course at Duraclean Central on March 10. Certification that will be obtained by the attendees is nationally recognized with the exception of the states of Iowa, Wisconsin and North Carolina that run their own certification programs.. We have space for about 16 attendees. There may be five spaces for that date already taken. There is also a chance that we could have an additional session the following day (March 11) if we get enough respondents. You can also attend an RRP class near you if they are available.

WHATEVER YOU DO, ATTEND A CLASS!

If you would like to attend the March 10th (or 11th) class at Duraclean contact Bill Ondratschek at extension 148 or e-mail him at billo@duraclean.com.

Labels: Lead, Lead Regulations, RRP